Cross Country
by Ilana Hale
Summary: Ilana Hale met Jordan Scott in January, he moved in March. That broke her heart. What will they do when they both find out they are demi-gods? When the only way to survive is something unthinkable...
1. Prologue

_October 23, 2012_

She walked along the path, up the hill. Sweat ran down her face and froze there. But she had to press on...

* * *

_October 26, 2012_

She lay in bed, her fever was raging. Her throat felt raw. Her body was ravaged by sickness. She never knew it was possible to feel this bad...

* * *

_January 25, 2013_

She braided her white wig, brushing it, twisting the strands. This was her first outing in about 3 years. She would get to see her teacher again! She felt like wearing this wig to see if she would still be recognized...

* * *

_January 25, 2013, an hour later._

She ran up to him, this boy. He had just walked in. She looked at his shirt. "Do NOT disturb! (Unless you have pizza)" She smiled and started talking to him, rapid speed...

* * *

_January 26, 2013_

He had given her his email address. So she decided to email him...

* * *

_January 27, 2013_

She sat there, listening to the phone ring. She had asked him for his phone number, so she could text him. He had given it to her, and said to go ahead and call him...

* * *

_January 29, 2013_

She climbed out of bed and realized something was very wrong, she was actually caring about how she looked! She sat down and tried to figure out why she felt like this...

* * *

_March 3, 2013_

Her breathing stopped as she read the words. "I'm moving." Franitically, she typed. "When?" "Where?" She tried to find out...

* * *

_March 12, 2013_

Her heart was threating to jump out of her chest and give her a hug. She crossed her fingers. He picked up.

"Hello?"

"Jordan, listen. I...I have a crush on you!" she blurted out.

Silence

"I'm hanging up now!" she said...

* * *

_March 19, 2013_

She held her breath. She didn't believe it. What?

"Ilana, did you hear me?" his voice came through

*cricket**cricket**cricket*

"Ilana? Will you marry me?"

"...Y-Y-Yes."

It was crazy, going this fast. But then again, so was her life...

* * *

_March 23, 2013_

"One, two, three!"

They dived under the water, when something unexpected happened. He came up and kissed her...

* * *

_March 30, 2013_

She lay next to him, on the ground of the woods. Clinging to him as they talked. Her head resting on his chest.

"I love you." he said.

She smiled, and turned her head so she could look him in the eyes.

"I love you too." she responded back.

This time, she leaned in...

* * *

_March 31, 2013_

She cried, like she had never cried before. He was gone, moved across country. All the way to mother effing Philadelphia, PA! 2376 miles away! She might never see him again. The boy, who in such short time had become a peice of her. One she couldn't shake, one she knew that she would always need.

And my god. Did she hate it.

* * *

**So yeah, that's the start of my story! I hope you guys like it. There ages will be revealed later. So review! **

**I based this off...a true story. This chapter, the rest of the story is my imagination. Except for the dream at the beginning of the next chapter (yes I give out spoilers)**


	2. Dreams and Cutting

_The walked through the park. She nuzzled against his chest, feeling secure in his arms. His arm was around her, and hers around his. She looked up at him and smiled, as she pulled his arm down to her stomach. He grinned from ear to ear as he felt their child kick. It was to be their first child, they had been married just 2 years._

_He stopped then, so he could really see her. His wife, his beautiful wife. Her belly swollen with child. He kissed her then, slowly, tenderly._

_Suddenly she was wrenched from his arms._

_She screamed._

_He swung around, trying frantically to hit something. But a bat hit him first. He fell to the ground, fists and objects rained down on him._

_"No! Jordan!" the girl cried out as she saw him being beaten._

_Her back arched and she screamed as the knife sunk in. But she wasn't just being stabbed, her flesh was being slit. She felt the knife slide from her pelvis to her naval. She screamed again as she felt her flesh being pulled open. _

_She felt herself be ripped and pulled, slit again, and tugged._

_She heard an infant cry. She sobbed. She heard a voice._

_"Shit, it's a girl!"_

_What? A girl?_

_"Damn, let's go! Drop her!" came another voice deep and gruff._

_The next thing she saw was her poor daughter shot in the head then dropped like a piece of trash._

_The last thing she saw was a gun aimed between her eyes._

_Bang._

* * *

Ilana bolted straight up in bed. She felt the blankets stick to her with sweat. Her breathing picked up, she felt that all to familiar pressure rise in her chest. She quickly grabbed a pillow and pressed it to her mouth. She screamed and screamed and screamed, till her whole body shook. She inadvertently ran a hand across her stomach.

Of course there was nothing there.

She was only 13! She wasn't pregnant!

The next thing she knew she was out of bed and walking across her hallway to the shower. She turned on the warm spray and stepped under it. Then she realized that she was still dressed. She peeled off the wet clothing and threw it on the floor of the shower.

Suddenly all her strength left her. She collapsed on the floor of the shower.

She leaned over and grabbed her razor blade. She popped it open and dragged it across her arm. The pain and the blood brought her back around.

Dear god what was she going to do?

* * *

**SO yeah! That's the chapter! The above dream was taken form the girl in the relationships dream journal! I had to translate it and make it story worth.  
**

**REVIEW BOOM!**

_~In demi-gods we trust._


	3. The Death of An Angel

Ilana sat in the tub, somewhere between panic attack and suicide attempt. That numbed sort of realty that she always lapsed into after an epically bad nightmare.

The tub had started to fill, and at least 3 inches of water had collected, tinged slightly pink from the numerous cuts that covered Ilana's arms. Her hand was bleeding from where she was gripped her razer blade.

Ilana heard the door open, and braced herself.

"Ilana?" came a voice, the voice of her twin sister, Kathleen. "You alive?"

"Yeah." she said.

Kathleen pulled back the curtain and stared at Ilana. Kathleen wasn't her blood twin, Kathleen was her heart twin. Sister, really. They had only decided to say twin because of the fact that their birthdays were 3 months apart.

Not that anyone needed to know that, it was more fun confusing the heck out of people.

"Well then." Kathleen remarked, "What to do...What to do; you okay?"

"Sort of, bad nightmare."

"Ahh, well," Kathleen put her hand on Ilana's shoulder.

Ilana sat there calmed a bit, and snapped back to reality.

Then the grip on Ilana's shoulder tightened.

She looked up and Kathleen, "What are you doing?" she asked.

No response.

Kathleen's hand jerked to Ilana's throat, and her grip tightened, choking Ilana.

Kathleen, pushed Ilana's back, and put her head under the water.

Ilana scratched and clawed, trying to get free.

Her lungs were burning and her vision was red with black spots.

She couldn't breathe...

She couldn't breathe...

Ilana bolted upright, she was wet. She was in the shower. Her wet pj's were underneath her. Her hand was bleeding. Her leg had about 50 cuts on it. Her watch was beeping it's alarm. Her head was pounding, and her neck had a crick in it.

That's what she got for sleeping in a tub.

It was 6am, time to get up. Her brain pieced together what had happened to her.

Time Lapse:

Ilana stepped out of her house and walked down the street. She had a two-mile walk ahead of her.

If her life was a movie, they might be playing Paramore's "Playing God" right now, or maybe Eminems "Lose Yourself" or possibly, Barry Louis Polisar's "All I Want is You."

Who knew?

She shook her head back and forth violently, trying to clear it.

It was cold...

So cold...

Her lungs were on fire, her ankles were screaming at her (more of a hades-raising roar actually), her shoulders were about to fall off, and her vision was red with black spots.

She was here, she didn't even need to look at the sign to know it.

But she knew what the sign said anyway.

"DECATUR HIGH SCHOOL, HOME OF THE GATORS"

Yup, she was here.

She saw some of her classmates already sitting on the grass.

"Hey guys, ready for another day of learning at Washington Virtual Academy's outing program?" she said.

"Sure." they all replied.

You see, she didn't go to this high school.

Not yet anyway.

She went to the online school WAVA-OMAK.

She was in the outings program, where she met up with her classmates everyday of the week, took a bus, and went to a site and had her classes.

Sadly it was over after winter break.

She took a seat as a car pulled up.

Out of it stepped a young woman with white-blond hair.

She was wearing a white long-sleeved t-shirt, a floor length pale blue skirt, a trident necklace, and a string of seashells wrapped loosely around her waist.

"Goodbye! I love you!" she remarked to the hidden driver of the car.

Everyone was happy. Didn't they know? They shouldn't be happy! Someone had died today, one year ago.

Ilana still remembered, as if it was yesterday...

"_You think she's gonna be okay?" Ilana asked as she bounced her cousin on the hip._

_Her little cousin buried her face into her shoulder. _

"_Maybe we should take her to the doctor." said the young girls mother._

"_Yeah, that's a good idea."_

_Ilana had been staying the night at one of her cousins house._

_When she got sick. The girl Ilana was currently bouncing up and down._

_A sudden high fever._

_A stiff neck._

_She had thrown up a couple time as well._

_A headache._

_Ilana knew all these symptoms were from somewhere, corresponded to something._

_But she couldn't name it. It was on the tip of her tongue._

"_Hey, Minny-pinney?" Ilana said, to the tuft of blonde hair currently sticking out of her shoulder._

"_Hmm?" came a voice from the hair._

"_You gotta go to the doctor!" Ilana said_

"_Hmmm, no!" she said_

"_Yes, yes, he'll make you feel better!"_

"_No, hmmmm, ufrh!" _

_Ilana grabbed the girls coat and mittens as her mother stepped out of the door to go start the car._

"_Okay Minney, here we go!" Ilana slipped on the girl's coat and mittens._

_As Ilana stepped out of the door she heard the girl whimper, "Teddy!"_

_Right._

_Teddy Bear._

_Ilana grabbed the fat, overstuffed pink teddy bear on her way out._

_Time Lapse:_

_She smiled, Mindy had smiled when told what was going to happen to her._

"_It's Bacterial," said the Doctor, "I'm afraid there is nothing I can do, I give her a few more hours at the most. If you want, I can make arraignments and you can stay with her till the end."_

_Ilana sat their flabbergasted._

_This little girl, her 8th birthday in three days, this sweet innocent little angel..._

_Was going to die._


	4. The Rising Tide

_Ilana rocked back and forth with Mindy in her lap._

_Ilana was crying softly, as she knew what was going to happen._

_Mindy was going to die._

_Mindy had bacterial meningitis, so far advanced that their was nothing they could do._

_She had a matter of hours._

_And Ilana was here, reading her a story about fluffy kittens. _

_Suddenly Mindy looked up. _

"_Can you sing me a song?" she asked._

"_S-Sure." said Ilana, wiping tears from her eyes. "What one?"_

"_That one from camp, the Pooh one."_

"_Okay."_

_Ilana started softly following the gentle nature of the song._

Christopher Robin and I walked along  
Under branches lit up by the moon  
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore  
As our days disappeared all too soon  
But I've wandered much further today than I should  
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood_  
_

_Something changed, Mindy seemed to relax more, and lean back into Ilana._

__So help me if you can  
I've got to get back  
To the House at Pooh Corner by one  
You'd be surprised  
There's so much to be done  
Count all the bees in the hive  
Chase all the clouds from the sky  
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh

_The Doctor came in and looked at the machines, softly he said, "It's happening, her heart rate is falling slowly."_

_But Ilana had to keep singing._

__

Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do  
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose  
He came to me asking help and advice  
From here no one knows where he goes  
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there  
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear 

_Ilana moved Mindy around to where Mindy was laying down. Mindy's mother held her little hand, and Ilana's as well. Tears were in both their eyes._

Help me if you can  
I've got to get back  
To the House at Pooh Corner by one  
You'd be surprised  
There's so much to be done  
Count all the bees in the hive  
Chase all the clouds from the sky  
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh 

_Mindy's breathing was slower now, and deeper. Her eyes were closed._

It's hard to explain how a few precious things  
Seem to follow throughout all our lives  
After all's said and done I was watching my son  
Sleeping there with my bear by his side  
So I tucked him in, I kissed him and as I was going  
I swear that the old bear whispered "Boy welcome home" 

_Mindy was barely breathing now, each breath took longer, and longer, and longer..._

Believe me if you can  
I've finally come back  
To the House at Pooh Corner by one  
What do you know  
There's so much to be done  
Count all the bees in the hive  
Chase all the clouds from the sky  
Back to the days of Christopher Robin  
Back to the ways of Christopher Robin  
Back to the days of Pooh

_Mindy exhaled for the last time, and Ilana felt her little body relax, her fist relax._

_Mindy was dead._

"Ilana? Ilana? ILANA?!" came a voice, shaking Ilana of of the flashback.

"What? What? Hmm? What's going on?" asked Ilana dazed and confused.

Ilana opened her eyes and blinked, in front of her she saw a young women staring at her. The girls green-blue eyes seeming to pierce Ilana's.

"Are you okay dear?" asked the girl.

Ilana's eyes came into focus and she recognized the girl.

"I'm fine Ocean." said Ilana

Yes, the girl's name was Ocean.

"Okay, you need to stay grounded dear, do you want to chant with me?" asked Ocean

"No, I'm fine." Ilana responded.

"Okay dear, Namaste." Ocean took a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of her chest.

"Yes, Namaste." Ilana did the same.

Meh, Ocean was weird. Ilana didn't care.

"Hey Connie!" came a voice behind her as she felt her personal space violated.

Ilana turned on her heel and found her nose inches away from his.

Octavian . The class idiot, twirp, and bully.

"What do you want asshole?" asked Ilana, promptly stepping back.

"Oh nothing," he said, tossing his brown hair back, "Just wondering if you've made up your mind."

"About what?"

"Your name."

Ilana sighed, he wasn't going to stop was he?

"No, Octavian" she said "I haven't."

"Alright then," he said waving his hand dismissively, "Hey, can I bum a smoke?"

"No!"

"Fine, Fine!" he walked away.

Jeez, Ilana didn't understand why the heck people thought she was a smoker. She wasn't! She never would be!

There were currently two rumors going around in her class.

She had Asthma

She was a smoker.

Neither were true. She did know the reasons behind both of them though, now that she thought about it.

For number 1, she had been seen inhaling into a tissue.

She had allergies which liked to act up at school. But she had a remedy!

She would take a tissue (or a cloth) and put drops of an essential oil blend she had on it, than she would press it to her mouth. Then she would quickly inhale, sucking the vapors down. It soothed her nose and throat.

She guessed that from a distance it looked like an inhaler.

And for the smoking thing, she had a bunch of sage in her room. She burned it a lot and, she guessed, it smelled like old cigarette smoke.

Oh well, what's another rumor?


	5. Things Get Weird

The rest of Ilana's day went pretty smoothly.

She went to Midwifery class, and managed to freak everyone out by explaining exactly why she wasn't scared to preform bimanual compression, when necessary.

She went to Music class and managed to make a beat on the drums that sounded like the song they were learning, "Pour Some Sugar On Me." by Def Leopard.

She went to Lunch and got puked on.

She went to Math and fell asleep.

She went to History and surprised the whole class about how much she knew about Shakespeare.

Hey it wasn't her fault that she got bored!

She went to English and again fell asleep.

She went to Health and sang along to her friends singing the "Sore Feet Song."

She went to PE (Hockey that day) and got pummeled.

She went home and collapsed on her bed. But as soon as her head hit her pillow, she knew sleep was not going to come easy.

More like not at all.

In fact, all that night and the night after, sleep didn't come.

Not even a little bit, not even at all.

"14,357,890...14,357,891...14,357,892..."

Ilana lay awake counting sheep on her third night without sleep.

She knew exactly why she was insomniac. Her dad.

His favorite way to punish her was to lecture her till 1am, send her to bed, leave all her lights on and her radio, not allow her to turn them off, and then wake her up at 3am.

Then he would make her exercise and do chores all day and not allow her to go to sleep till 3am the next day.

What about school you ask?

In her dad's mind, school was a privilege, like eating and sleeping and showering.

But tonight (she hoped) her dad was to tired to lecture her.

She rolled over and sighed.

It wasn't going to get easier was it?


	6. A Night To Remember

Ilana lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her heart was heavy. Her eyes filled with tears. She hadn't slept in a long time, not daring to close her eyes for fear of the nightmares.

She didn't want to see them again. More specifically, she didn't want to see _him _again.

Jordan. Being killed, maimed, tortured. All because of her.

But maybe, just maybe, tonight could be different. Maybe no nightmares.

She sat up and turned, flopping back into her little pile of pilows and blankets she slept in. To make sure that no matter how she woke up screaming, she work up screaming into a pillow or blanket.

She pilled her New York Jets blanket tight around her, willing it to give her some warmth. And shut her eyes. If she could relax, just relax...

_Sna-p! SNAP!_

She heard a sound. Her eyes flew open, and all thought of sleep was pushed back as her muscles tightend. Her heart pounded. Her vision grew sharper. Her could fell adrenilne coursing through her veins.

Slowly, she sat up. Careful so as not to make the bed creak. She slowly grabbed her knife, willing her hands to be steady.

She said a silent prayer to Lord Mars, the Roman God of War. Willing him to be merciful and bless her with strength and guile.

She heard her window creak as the screen from the outside was removed. She heard a soft hiss that she did not recognize. She heard her window slide open silently. Strange, her window ALWAYS squeaked. But she had no time to think about that.

She heard a clatter, and took that time to perch herself on the small window ledge.

She saw someone begin to climb through. She waited for them to get in partially, enough that a simple nudge would topple them over,

She struck. She moved quickly, and pushed the intruder over the window ledge. But she lost her balence as well. The two of them fell to the floor in a heap of arms and legs. Ilana recovered first. Twirling her knife in her hand and bringing across the intruders neck, not enought to sut. But enough to threaten. The intruder responded with a kick to the side of Ilana's head. Ilana toppled over, her eyes watering.

Ilana let her body take over to fight. She reclaled the tricks that Billy had taught her.

_When they go to punch you in the face, block, then punch them in the stomach while they are open._

The assilent lunged, and moved forward to her in the face. Ilana's arm came up and blocked. Her other arm punched the assailent's stomach. So hard, Ilana heard a gasp and felt a concave.

Then Ilana was grabbed from behind and yanked off the girl. Arms wrapped around her, pulling her up then off.

Ilana pitched her legs forward then back, slamming them into the legs of whoever was holding her.

The other assailent cried out then dropped Ilana. Ilana landed on the balls of her feet, and turned. She was grabbed and pushed to the ground by the assailent she had punched in the stomach. She felt a knee in the back of her neck.

"Calm down runt!" came a hiss form above her. "We aren't here to hurt you!"

"Really?" Ilana said, her voice dripping with sarcsem. "Never would have guessed!"

"Well then that knocks one off the list." laughed another voice. "No way you could be Athena, not sharp enough."

The light went on and Ilana got a look at the people who had come through the window.

The girl that was on top of her rolled off.

"Recognize us?" she asked, slightly cockey.

Ilana did, near instantaniously.

Piper McLean, and Annabeth Chase.


End file.
